Automatic air-coupling.



I. W. ARMSTRONG & C. A. PLAMADORE.

AUTOMATIC AIR COUPLING. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 23. I912. REIIWD MAY 9.1916.

I J Q/v ybncooeq .9 z/w/gww yzl 6 I fitter/mm ra n ST.

"Arniaf'r orrrcn.

IRA w. ARMSTRONG AND CHARLES A. PLAMADORE, or BELVIDERE, rumors.

AUTOMATIC AIR-COUPLING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 24, 1916.

Application filed August 23, 1912, Serial No. 716,698. Renewed May 9,1916. Serial No. 96,431.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, IRA W. ARMSTRONG and CHARLES A. PLAMADORE, citizensof the United States, residing at Belvidere, in the county of Boone andState of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements inAutomatic Air-Couplings, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to automatic air conplers for railroad cars, theobject of the 1nvention being to provide a device which will beefficient in operation, its construction being such that failure tooperate under the proper conditions, and any danger of leakage of air,are impossible.

Further objects of the invention will appear as the following specificdescription is read in connection with the accompanying drawings, whichform a part of the application, and in which- Figure 1 is a frontelevation. Fig. 2 is a. side elevation. Fig. 3 is a sectional view onthe line 33 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view takenon the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral 1 designates the car body to theunder surface.

of which and adjacent one end thereof are secured the parallel,transverse hangers and 3, the latter being located near the end of thecar. The hanger 2 is pro-vided with a horizontal,cylindrical opening .4in alinement with a rectangular opening 5 provided in the hanger 3. Atubular body 6 provided with the longitudinal opening 7 and having itsinner portion cylindrical in shape, as at 8, its outer portionrectangular in shape, as at 9, and a peripheral flange 10 formed betweenthe inner and outer portions, is slidably mounted within the openings ofthe hangers 2 and 3, as clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. In thisposition the flange l0 abuts the inner surface of the hanger 3 so as tolimit the outward motion of the member 6, and a helical spring 1Ointer-- bracket 18 mounted on the under surface of the car body at oneside of the valve when in its normal position. A cylindricalcontinuation 19 of the tubular member is threaded into the opposite endof the valve as at 20 and has its outer portion enlarged to form a head21 whose walls diverge out-- wardly and whose outward face 22 presentsthe form of an ellipse, the longitudinal axis of the elliptical facelying in a horizontal plane. A passageway 23 is provided within the head21 as a continuation of the opening 7 of the tubular member and it is inalinement therewith. A recess 24 is provided in the outer portion of thehead 21 so that its walls converge inwardly to form a socket, whichcommunicates with the passageway 23 and is provided at its point ofjuncture therewith with a peripheral groove 25. A ring 26 of rubber orsome such elastic material is mounted within the groove 25 for a purposehereinafter specified. An angularly extending passageway 27 leadslaterally from the passageway 23 and has its .outer portion extendingforwardly as at 28.

This portion of the passageway is slightly enlarged and is screwthreaded for the reception of the externally screw threaded innerextremity 29. of a tubular projecting member 30 whose central opening 31communicates with the inner portion 28 of the passageway 27. A buffermember 32 of rubber or some such material of suitable thickness, ismounted on the face of the head 21 and surrounds the projecting member30 which passes through an aperture 33 therein. A peripheral flange 34formed on the member 30 adjacent its threaded portion is adapted toengage the outer surface of the member 32 to hold the same securely inposition. The outer end of the member 30 is rounded as at 35 and isadapted to be received by the socket of a coacting coupler head similarto the socket 24, so that the elastic ring thereof, through which theextremity of the member 30 will be forced, will form an airtight joint.The buffer member 32 serves a two-fold purpose, it being a buffer torelieve the shock caused by the meeting of the coacting coupler heads,and also serving to make an airtight joint between the projecting member30 and the threaded portion of the passageway 27 in the head 21.

The coupling devices are to be positioned upon the under surfaces oftheir respective acting coupler heads come together, the tubular bodiesthereof will slide inwardly through their respective hanger openingsagainst the action of their helical springs, and in so doing the valvestems will be rotated so that air communication will be open when thetubular bodies are in their retracted position which is renderedpermanent by the locking of the car couplers. The

valves will remain open until the cars are uncoupled and the air couplerheads are permitted to move outwardly. During such operations therectangular portion 9 of the tubular body 6 moves within the rectangularopening 5 of the hanger 3 and, by preventing rotation of the body,sustains the head 21 in its position with its cen ter of gravitydisplaced with respect to the longitudinal axis of the body 6, thethreaded connections between the portions of the body 6 being such thatthe Weight of the displaced portion of the head 21 tends to tighten saidconnections.

We claim:

A device of the kind described in combination a support, bracketscarried thereby, a

tube slidably mounted in said brackets, a

socket bearing formed integrally upon one end of said tube and having alaterally inclined extension, said bearing being formed with anoutwardly flaring chamber in a line with said tube the innerpart forminga channel of uniform diameter, uniformly cylindrical part being formedwith an annular groove at the junction with the flaring chamher, aresilient ring snugly countersunk in said annular groove, said bearingbeing formed with an inclined chamber parallel with said inclinedextension the outer part of which being in alinement with said tube, aconnecting plug threaded into the alining part of said last mentionedchamber, a shoul der on said plug, and a rubber gasket engaging saidplug and engaged by said shoulder, being of larger diameter than thelatter,

In testimony whereof we afiiX our signatures in presence of twowitnesses. i V

IRA w. ARMSTRONG. CHARLES A. PLAMADORE.

Witnesses:

GRAon E. TAYLOR, ALEXANDER J. STROM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. 0.

